To file under ‘haves” and “haves not”… Googlers get credits on TaskRabbit, an online service for odd jobs, as a perk.

Among the odd jobs…” take shoes to the cobbler…”

Cobbler? COBBLER?

I guarantee you will waste five minutes browsing tasks. Much like Dobby the house elf, of Harry Potter fame, I do this type of stuff for free and have no need for cobblers and such since most of my shoes are basically plastic and therefore repairable with gorilla glue or duct tape. Via Gawker: Valleywag.

(I’ll bet being a cobbler is a pretty good job right about now.)

Sometimes I forget that people don’t know about potential learning/work tools that may have been around for several years. Such is the case with Google Custom Search (which has been around now for more than four years).

Anyway…my catalyst for this post was a wonderful online workshop I did last week for AITD. They’ve got a nice line up of professional development opportunities and I was happy to be asked to present on one of my favorite topics – GOOGLE. (Note: Even if you’re not a member of AITD, I think you can could send an inquiry to see if you can sign up for an online event. What’s nice is I did it at US 8:00 pm ET / 5 pm PT (10 am +1 Sydney) so it’s a nice evening option for those in the US.)

One featured tool I had kind of forgotten about was Custom Search Engine. The name is pretty self-explanatory. You can create your own search engine using one or more websites or specific web pages, host a search box on your own website, and create a custom look and feel. You can add other people’s custom search engine  when shared by the creator.

One nice example I found was in Adobe’s Community site. They use it to selectively index Adobe learning and support content as well as the best content from the Adobe community.

Uses for learning….

• directed learning
• acts as a scaffold
• discovery learning
• guided exploration
• embed it in an LMS like Moodle to search for content
• co-creation by employees (collaborative web search engine)
• electronic performance support
• efficiency and productivity improvements
• community search
• lots of others

There seems to be a business edition (fee) that will search your intranet. You can set a basic one up in about 5 minutes. You’ll need  a Google account. Here’s the Custom Search Blog (there’s also a Twitter account)..recent updates (from the blog) include auto completion of queries (think misspelling or suggestions), an AIR-based companion for Adobe Creative Suite 5 (E-learning Flash developers can search for relevant code samples to write better,  code, faster), support for synonyms, mobile search results, and on and on and on. Enjoy! Let me know if you’re doing something special with Custom Search.

Here are the slides from a webinar I did on “Google Tools for Online Learning” earlier today along with some links that I promised.

Google products covered:

Alerts

Blogger

Blog Search and Book Search

Calendar
(Doug Belshaw example)
How to use Google Calendar as a tool for lesson planning

Search (including simple uses)
(Maurer and Sapper reference: “ is learning still a necessity?)”

Docs

Gmail

Reader

Custom Search

Groups

iGoogle

Mobile

Video
Why businesses use Google business video

Sites|

Desktop

Chrome

Wave

Chinnery, G.M. (2008). You’ve got some GALL: Google-Assisted Language Learning. Language Learning & Technology, February 2008, Volume 12, Number 1, pp. 3-11.
Educause (2008). 7 Things You Should Know About Google Apps. Educause Connect.
Google for Educators

Posts from our group blog, Workplace Learning Today:
Why Google Apps Are Moving Out of Beta

The Risks of Cloud Computing

Thanks for attending.

What do you do when you’re connected and need a quick answer to a question? You probably just “google it” and then click the Wikipedia entry for whatever you’re “googling.”  I think this is certainly true of many Generation Y workers and those born after them. Many did not grow up using print encyclopedias and dictionaries like many older (some Gen X, boomer, mature) workers. Generally, search was limited to the physical materials at hand or physical proximity to someone with the answer. In my case usually my Dad. Now that has changed across generations.

I’m actually sick of Google. Although it is a huge part of my personal learning and work environment I’m just well, blah. I think this general blah came from a few too many “according to Google…” sightings. Don’t you just want to say, “Google is not a person.” According to the Google search I just did…might be better. Splitting hairs.

So then I ran across a decent article that I read through and thought I should buck up and revisit the things that make Google such a large part of my life.

In the simplest form, Google is simply a search engine. While some would argue that a Google search is not ‘real learning,’ search (and other) tools from Google appear to have pedagogical uses.

How you harness the potential of this ‘quick ‘n dirty,’ ubiquitous search platform depends, of course, on how you use it and what tools you use beyond its basic search capability. The ubiquity of the platform is what makes it worthy of consideration for supporting workplace learning.

George Chinnery (2008) described some of the pedagogical uses of Google in his article, “You’ve got some GALL: Google-Assisted Language Learning.” Here is a recap of Chinnery’s article as it appearing in Language, Learning & Technology.

Google as an Informative Tool:

• using a dictionary command (“define: strategy”), learners can discover meaning (definition, usage, correct spelling,).
• Using Google Suggest, learners can get real time alternate suggestions (“did you mean ___?”) for their search term.
• Using Google Books will give learners returns of rich prose.
• Google Trends will return geographic information.
• Synonyms (~term), vocabulary development (Google Image Labeler), and listing and brainstorming (Google Sets) are other tools.
• For language learning, Google has Language Tools.
• Instructors wishing to control search activities for learning can use Google Coop to create a search engine for a website or collection of sites.

Google as a Productive Tool:

• Google’s Blogger provides learners a place to author their own textual, audiovisual content.
• Google Docs give learners a way to collaborate on online documents.
• Google knol is a collaborative wiki-like application for group collaboration.

Google as a Collaborative Tool:

• Google Groups can be used to facilitate asynchronous class discussions.
• Google Calendar can be used for scheduling and notification.
• Google Lively is a 3-D environment where learners can create their own avatar and make and join rooms to meet and discuss topics.

Google as a Communicative Tool:

• Gmail, (Google’s email program) together with Google Talk (instant messenger and internet telephony service) allow learners to email, save, print and email text chats and can be used to display presence of a learner. Preferences allow you to change your availability and give others an idea of your current status (online, offline, away, do not disturb, etc.). Some initial research on the benefits of chat indicate that chats in language classes “seem to help all individuals engage more frequently, with greater confidence, and with greater enthusiasm” than is characteristic for similar students in a classroom.

Google as an Aggregative Tool:

• Google offers tools that recognize linguistic, visual, audio, gestural and spacial literacies in aggregate
• On iGoogle, learners can create their own start-age; their own customized, personal learning environment.
• Google Reader is a Web feed aggregator that allows learners and instructors to collect updates content (blogs, news feeds, podcasts, vodcasts, multimedia, etc.)
• Google Gears allows learners to view content from Google Reader offline.
• Google Page Creator is a simple webpage creation tool.
• Google Maps allows you to make custom maps and Google Earth provides a satellite view of an address.
• YouTube Remixer allows learners to make video mashups.
• Google Docs is a presentation tool similar to Microsoft PowerPoint.

How Googlized are you?

It’s National Teacher Day in the US.

I was reminded of this via the Google Groups “Google Teacher Center” group newsletter I am subscribed to.

Some info they shared…

Google is introducing a new section of their Google for Educators site – dedicated to using their most popular Geo Products (Google Earth, Maps, Sky, and SketchUp). They also have classroom activities and starter kits which feature “cool and easy things you can do” with each product in your classroom.

They have also developed a Google docs “getting started” guide – with step-by-step instructions for creating accounts, sharing and collaborating, editing and organizing your work.

Although written for the K-12 educator, some of these resources can be adapted to any group.
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Google Teacher Center Group